Researchers at the University of Granada (UGR; Spain) and San Cecilio Clinical Hospital (HSC; Granada, Spain) selected 64 pregnant women at the gynecology and obstetrics services department at HSC Hospital who experienced a normal course of pregnancy and a spontaneous, vaginal, single delivery. Half of the women had deliveries with early-clamped newborn infants (at 10 seconds), and the other half had late-clamped deliveries (at 2 minutes). 

 

The results showed that erythrocyte catalase activity was significantly greater in the late-clamped group than in the early-clamped group. The values for superoxide dismutase, total antioxidant status, and soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor II were also all significantly higher in the late-clamped group, when compared with the early-clamped group. The study was published in the August 2014 issue of Pediatrics.

 

“This research led by the University of Granada compares for the first time the impact of the moment of clamping upon the oxidative stress and the inflammatory signal produced during delivery in both the mother and the newborn,” concluded lead author Prof. Julio José Ochoa Herrera, PhD, of the department of physiology. “Late clamping of the umbilical cord has a beneficial effect upon the antioxidant capacity and reduces the inflammatory signal induced during labor, which could improve the development of the newborn during his or her first days of life.”

 

Clamping and cutting of the umbilical cord is the most prevalent of all operations, but the optimal timing of cord clamping is controversial, and may have a significant influence on placenta-to-infant blood transfer. Physiological studies have shown that there is a transfer from the placenta of up to 100 mL of blood at three minutes after birth, which may help prevent iron deficiency during the first year of life. On the other hand, there is also evidence suggesting that delayed umbilical cord clamping may put newborns at a higher risk of polycythemia, hyperbilirubinemia, and other neonatal disorders.